Turbo Intercooler

One option to obtaining reliable increased horsepower to your engine is that of installing a turbocharger. This is a gas driven exhaust turbine that many people put on their vehicle engines nowadays. It compresses air and increases it density to the engine. The denser air you have flowing through the engine, the more fuel atoms will be going through it as well. The result is more horsepower.

When air is forced into the intake manifold of a car engine by the turbo, it is compressed which causes it to heat up. The drawback is that heat robs horsepower from the engine. To counteract the loss of horse power, a turbo intercooler is used to cool down the air while it maintains the boost that the compressed air can give it. The way a turbo intercooler works is simple. As hot compressed air goes into the turbo intercooler, it flows through vanes or a radiator that causes the heat to dissipate and then flow out at a lower temperature than it was after being compressed.

Every engine in a car, truck, motorcycle or any engine for that matter has an optimal operating temperature. Modern day engines have computers that measure the barometric pressure, ambient air temperature, etc. and help to moderate the operating temperatures. The turbo intercooler helps keep the engine running at its optimal temperature as well. By running cooler charged air, your mixture is denser and helps your engine run more efficiently.

A turbo intercooler can actually increase the air charge by constantly cooling it. It allows more air and fuel to be combusted in the engine so that it results in increased horsepower. A turbo intercooler can also be referred to as a charge air cooler. Some vehicles have a two-stage turbo charger system which will have an intercooler in between the two turbo chargers. This system will have an aftercooler as well.

You can easily find a turbo intercooler on the market in various sizes, shapes and designs. There are specific recommendations for individual performance needs and space requirements on the supercharger system. There are front mounted intercoolers, top mounted intercoolers and hybrid mount intercoolers. Each one can use either an air-to-liquid system or an air-to-air system. There are also some that use a combination of both.
An air-liquid intercooler system transfers the charged heat to a fluid which helps to cool it down. This type of turbo intercooler system uses radiator type devices to reduce the heat much like a normal car radiator. However, it is much heavier than an air-to-air intercooler system. It has extra components that an air-air turbo intercooler does not have. For instance, the air-liquid turbo intercoolers have a water circulation pump, fluid, radiator and plumbing.

An air-liquid turbo intercooler system affords a faster response and lowers the turbo lag. This is because it has a lower pipe and longer intercooler. Some air-liquid intercoolers even have a reservoir that you can put ice into to lower the ambient air temperatures. One well known air-liquid turbo charger is made by Ford. It uses a water/glycol mixture and a Bosch pump. This technology has been used on the Ford Mustang Cobras and Shelby GT500s. Air-liquid turbo intercoolers are usually installed as mid and rear applications where space is limited and air flow is restricted. The liquid-air intercoolers are frequently used in racing applications because this type of turbo intercooler gives a competitive edge because it can use a chilled coolant to increase its efficiency.

You can find a huge selection of turbo intercoolers online at various websites that sell high performance aftermarket engine parts and accessories.

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